Blondino named Player of the Year; Ternhan and Tucker get positional honors

May 26, 2017

PERRY HALL, N.Y. – The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association announced its year-end awards on Friday and senior Nathan Blondino was named the nation's Player of the Year, while Andrew Ternahan and Kyle Tucker picked up positional player of the year honors.

Blondino has had a stellar senior campaign and leads the nation with his 131 points en route to winning the 2017 Iroquois National Award: Outstanding Player award. Blondino's 131 points come from 60 goals and 71 assists. Blondino heads into the national championship game this week with 5.95 points per game (fourth nationally) and 3.23 assists per game (fifth nationally). The player of the year honor marks the second-straight season a Gull has earned the award after Preston Dabbs got it last season. Overall, the award marks Salisbury's 11th season having a national player of the year. Blondino was also recently named a USILA First-Team All-American after being a second-team member in 2016.

Ternahan, fresh off his USILA First-Team All-American nod, earns the 2017 Long Pole Midfielder award after posting 81 groundballs and 34 caused turnovers thus far in his senior season. Ternahan has also pitched in on the offensive end of the field for SU this season, posting three goals and six assists for nine points. Ternahan is just the third Gull to win the Long Pole Midfielder award with Chase Caruso (2006 and '07) and Sean White (2003, '04, '05) having combined for five previous times a Salisbury player has won the award.

Tucker, a 2016 Second-Team All-American and 2017 First-Team All-American is the 2017 William C. Stiles Memorial Outstanding Defensive Player as one of the nation's top lockdown defenders during his junior season. Tucker has put up 62 groundballs and 30 caused turnovers so far in 2017. It is the 12th time the Sea Gulls have had a National Defender of the Year, with the last being Knute Kraus in 2015.

Salisbury has one more game on its 2017 slate with the Gulls taking on Rochester Institute of Technology in the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse National Championship Game. That game is set for Sunday, May 28 at 5 p.m., at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.